Saturday, March 24, 2007

Diving further into continuing research of my two favorite topics, baseball and beer, I discovered a little nugget regarding my favorite American League baseball team, the New York Yankees (let the tomato throwing commence).
The Yankees were purchased in 1915 by brewing magnate Jacob Ruppert, commonly referred to as The Colonel. He was responsible for the "stealing" of Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox, the building of Yankee Stadium, and the assembling of what would become the most dominant and successful major sports franchise...anywhere...across all of time...period...no further discussion.
Further, he and his father were responsible for bringing Knickerbocker beer (and promoting German lager style) to the Yorkville neighborhood of New York City. Here's a bit more history of New York City's brewing history and Ruppert's role in it.
A bit of research turns up that Southern Tier in New York does a beer called Ruppert's Dark; it's basically their porter recipe and they brew this beer for Ellicottville Brewing (attempting to confirm this with Phin at the brewery. Does anyone out there know for sure?)
What reminded me of this topic? Well, a combination of the re-emergence of spring and the following e-mail from 21st Amendment in San Francisco, CA. Knowing that my friend, Dennis, was in Florida watching a spring training game last weekend and seeing this e-mail from Shaun O'Sullivan has whetted my appetite even more for Opening Day 2007. Hope springs eternal!
Here's an excerpt from Shaun and Nico's e-mail. A "Session IPA"?...from the west coast?...and it's hop-filled? As Tony the Tiger would say, 'That's Grrrrreeeaat!' Click here for the full length version of the e-mail.
Hey Gang,
Baseball is right around the corner at the 21st Amendment and we are looking
forward to another exciting year from the San Francisco Giants. February was
an unbelievable month with Strong Beer Month. This was our fifth year of
doing this with Magnolia Pub and Brewery and it just gets more popular every
year. Both Shaun and Dave McLean, the owner and Brewmaster from Magnolia,
have come up with another special event this November. So stay tuned.......Click here for the full length version of the e-mail.
Hey! Wake up! Are you still with me? Sorry for the rambling nature. If any of you followed this, see me at the bar this weekend, and give me a summarized (coherent) version, I'll buy you a beer!